koukla carolyn

Bonnie and the Bird; graphite, marker and colored pencil in 9×12 sketchbook; 2008

Bonnie, a childhood friend. Well traveled, gorgeous—easily the kind of person that could make someone feel inadequate. But Bonnie is so gracious, soft spoken and kind that I don’t think anyone ever felt that way. I drew this from a photo of her sister’s.

I’ve been practicing portraits lately to brush up on my skills. About 10 years ago or so I went through a phase where I drew nothing but portraits, copying from photos of models in magazines. It took me a long time but I learned the basics through a lot of practice and art instructional books. I still cringe when I look at stuff I have from back then. One thing that I’ve always avoided however, is drawing open mouthed portraits. I never drew anything with someone smiling because the teeth never came out right. I was so frustrated when everyone came out with buck teeth. That basically rules out drawings of friends and family from snapshots as most of the time people are smiling. Thanks to a lot of great suggestions from folks in the EDM group, I was able to finish this drawing. I definitely need more practice but the teeth do look better than what I could have done before.